Random question about languages...

[Cornhog]

This might be a stupid question, but I'm curious dammit. Each civilization's units speak in that civ's language. The Americans speak English; the French speak French; etc. What about the more exotic civs? Do we know how Mayans spoke? Are there still people that can speak Mayan? Or Sumerian? Or Babylonian?

Or did Firaxis simply trick me into thinking these were authentic languages when the Mayans are really speaking Simmish or something?

 

[Aemilius]

Well, there are old Mayan, Sumerian and Babylonian texts. They know the grammar, maybe somebody just invented the spelling.

 

[Lillefix]

There are still millions of mayans around, and yes they still speak mayan languages.

 

[WilliamOfOrange]

millions? not so sure about that, but yeah their language still exists, if barely.

 

[Lillefix]

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9051572/Maya

70 different maya languages spoken by 5 million bilingual(spanish) mayans.

 

[Cornhog]

So the game could have some descendant of a language spoken by the Mayan civilization. I'll go along with that. But what about Sumerians and Babylonians? And Carthage! They spoke Punic. I just wonder what language they used for the purposes of the game.

 

[Stoklomolvi]

A lot of the grammar on foreign languages is a bit weird. For instance, I'm Chinese, and whenever I hear him say what would likely sound to you guys "Shi Ma", I would think that he's responding to something that would constitute an "O RLY" response, since Shi Ma means "Is it". Some of their quotes sound a bit awkward, since in Chinese you can say them in a much more succinct fashion.

 

[WilliamOfOrange]

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9051572/Maya

70 different maya languages spoken by 5 million bilingual(spanish) mayans.

Well, hot damn. I stand corrected. I guess I wasn't really paying that much attention when I traveled through Guatemala.

5 million is a low number, I thought someone was claiming Millions!!

 

[Lockesdonkey]

So the game could have some descendant of a language spoken by the Mayan civilization. I'll go along with that. But what about Sumerians and Babylonians? And Carthage! They spoke Punic. I just wonder what language they used for the purposes of the game.

Sumerian is quite well-documented, though of course colloquial Sumerian isn't. There's enough info on the language to make small phrases.

Akkadian (the language they spoke in Babylon) and Punic are also well-documented, and they're both Semitic languages, so constructions are on even stronger ground.

A lot of the grammar on foreign languages is a bit weird. For instance, I'm Chinese, and whenever I hear him say what would likely sound to you guys "Shi Ma", I would think that he's responding to something that would constitute an "O RLY" response, since Shi Ma means "Is it". Some of their quotes sound a bit awkward, since in Chinese you can say them in a much more succinct fashion.

They obviously word-for-word translate the English, which is silly. "All present and accounted for" in Arabic (which is used for both the Arabs and the Egyptians) is just ridiculous; nobody would say that phrase in Arabic.